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Author Topic: Recommended OSR compatible bestiaries?  (Read 5277 times)

Raven

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Recommended OSR compatible bestiaries?
« on: April 30, 2015, 04:53:57 PM »
I'm in the market for a good monster book (or two). What's good and why?

Bobloblah

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Recommended OSR compatible bestiaries?
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2015, 05:03:52 PM »
Swords & Wizardry Monster Book

One of the best. Huge selection of monsters (including plenty of originals), conversion notes (mostly around AC)...what else could you ask for? Ok, maybe illustrations. The art is very thin. But still, the softcover is cheap as chips on Lulu. The book is broadly compatible with any old-school RPG based on the original - blah, blah, blah.
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S'mon

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Recommended OSR compatible bestiaries?
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2015, 05:08:55 PM »
The Basic Fantasy Field Guide is really really good. £2.75 for the print copy off amazon was probably the best value £2.75 I ever spent. :D



It has some conversions of AD&D MM2 stuff to BFRPG power levels, these are very well done, but also tons of new critters.

Edit: Here it is - http://basicfantasy.org/download.cgi/Basic-Fantasy-Field-Guide-r22-bookmarked.pdf

EOTB

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Recommended OSR compatible bestiaries?
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2015, 09:39:57 PM »
Monsters of Myth is hosted on Knights and Knaves.  It is all new monsters - no repeats of monsters you already have.

The PDF is free, the soft copy is on Lulu, and the hardback is bound really well, and available from Black Blade publishing.
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https://mewe.com/join/osric A MeWe OSRIC group - find an online game; share a monster, class, or spell; give input on what you'd like for new OSRIC products.  Just don't 1) talk religion/politics, or 2) be a Richard

JeremyR

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Recommended OSR compatible bestiaries?
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2015, 11:04:04 PM »
I've found most of them to be kinda hit and miss, mostly miss, with maybe only 30% stuff I'd want to use.

But I'd suggest Creature Compendium
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/147588/CC1-Creature-Compendium

200 new monsters, $2 in PDF. Mix of folklore and new stuff. Lots of illustrations from the author of decent quality.


Teriatic Tome
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/110459/Teratic-Tome
Most of them monsters are the same thing over and over (tentacle monster) but some are pretty nice and lots of high quality original illustrations. $6.66 for the PDF

Tome of Twisted Terrors
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/131922/Treatise-of-Twisted-Terrors
70 new monsters, mostly taken from folklore. Illustrated with PD art. $2 in PDF

And you can get the S&W Monsters from the S&W SRD site
http://www.d20swsrd.com/swords-and-wizardry-srd/for-the-referee/monsters

Also has about 60% of the Tome of Horror monsters (I think he stopped adding them at R?).

Kellri

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Recommended OSR compatible bestiaries?
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2015, 01:14:59 AM »
Here's a spreadsheet I maintain of all the open-source old school monsters (with statblocks) that I could find for OSRIC. The second worksheet includes a bibliography of all the sources I used including links to where you can purchase or download the actual books themselves.

OSRIC Monster List.pdf
Kellri's Joint
Old School netbooks + more

You can also come up with something that is not only original and creative and artistic, but also maybe even decent, or moral if I can use words like that, or something that's like basically good -Lester Bangs

Simlasa

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Recommended OSR compatible bestiaries?
« Reply #6 on: May 01, 2015, 02:53:20 AM »
I'm currently reading through Fire On The Velvet Horizon which is a new book of about 100 monsters by Patrick Stuart and Scrap Princess. It's pretty damn amazing... at least for the sort of monsters I enjoy.
It's rules agnostic and few of the creatures are the sort of thing you just meet in a dark tunnel, hack to death and steal their treasure. Each one takes up a page and has the potential to be the center of an entire adventure/campaign.

Like, the very first creature in the book...
It does not make direct attacks and can't be taken out by them... it's a creature of absolute law and hate that situates itself in an area and will use the rules and regulations of that place to take out everyone it can using the legal system. Attacking it would be bad manners... so you can't, because in its presence all social laws/manners become physical laws.
In order to defeat it you would either have to create an atmosphere of total chaos, dismantle any existing civilization... OR... somehow frame the creature for a capital offense and it would then be obligated by its nature to obey the sentence.

Most all the ones I've read so far have been mind-benders... which means I'd probably be inclined to use them sparingly, these are the sorts of critters you'd randomly sprinkle around in a dungeon.

The caveat is that the book is full color and priced accordingly... each page is a hand-crafted piece of art that reads like a crazed ransom note from a madman. There are no nods to the usual accessible sort of layout we get in most RPG supplements. Reading the thing is an experience unto itself... including the small type that flows deep into the center of the book.
As it is, even if I weren't into RPGs I'd love this book as a work of horror fiction/illustration.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2015, 02:58:20 AM by Simlasa »

Spinachcat

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Recommended OSR compatible bestiaries?
« Reply #7 on: May 01, 2015, 03:16:14 AM »

Brad

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Recommended OSR compatible bestiaries?
« Reply #8 on: May 01, 2015, 01:28:41 PM »
Quote from: JeremyR;829111
But I'd suggest Creature Compendium
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/147588/CC1-Creature-Compendium

200 new monsters, $2 in PDF. Mix of folklore and new stuff. Lots of illustrations from the author of decent quality.


Everything that guy does is worth buying. Met him at NTRPGCon last year, seems like a nice guy who just really enjoys making rpg products.

The most comprehensive OSR monster book I've seen is probably the Bestiary for Adventures Dark and Deep. Won't say it's the best but Jesus...pretty much everything I could think of is inside.
It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.

RunningLaser

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Recommended OSR compatible bestiaries?
« Reply #9 on: May 01, 2015, 01:35:50 PM »
Quote from: S'mon;829058
The Basic Fantasy Field Guide is really really good. £2.75 for the print copy off amazon was probably the best value £2.75 I ever spent. :D



It has some conversions of AD&D MM2 stuff to BFRPG power levels, these are very well done, but also tons of new critters.

Edit: Here it is - http://basicfantasy.org/download.cgi/Basic-Fantasy-Field-Guide-r22-bookmarked.pdf


I hear the guy who did that cover is just an all around great guy!

Raven

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Recommended OSR compatible bestiaries?
« Reply #10 on: May 01, 2015, 06:56:05 PM »
That's a lot of stuff! This isn't going to cost me as much as I assumed either. Looks like I was right to start this thread before dropping $50 on Tome of Horrors 4.

Threw the S&W one into my Lulu cart, picked up Creature Compendium, and I will sort through the other stuff in the coming days. Thanks for the replies folks.